Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said.

The warning in a Jan. 3 letter to church leaders of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on Jan. 3 that, following the secession of largely non-Islamic south Sudan last July, the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic law).

“We will take legal procedures against pastors who are involved in preaching or evangelistic activities,” Hamid Yousif Adam, undersecretary of the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, wrote to the church leaders. “We have all legal rights to take them to court.”

Sources said the order was aimed at oppressing Christians amid growing hostilities toward Christianity.

“This is a critical situation faced by our church in Sudan,” said the Rev. Yousif Matar, secretary general of the SPEC.

Another church leader said the order was another in a series of measures by the government to control churches.

“They do not want pastors from South Sudan to carry on any church activities or mission work in Sudan,” he said.

Sudanese law prohibits missionaries from evangelizing, and converting from Islam to another religion is punishable by imprisonment or death in Sudan, though previously such laws were not strictly enforced. The government has never carried out a death sentence for apostasy, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report.

Christians are facing growing threats from both Muslim communities and Islamist government officials who have long wanted to rid Sudan of Christianity, Christian leaders told Compass. They said Christianity is now regarded as a foreign religion following the departure of 350,000 people, most of them Christians, to South Sudan following the July 9, 2011 secession.

Sudan’s Interim National Constitution (INC) holds up sharia as a source of legislation, and the laws and policies of the government favor Islam, according to the state department report. Christian leaders said they fear the government is tightening controls on churches in Sudan and planning to force compliance with Islamic law as part of a strategy to eliminate Christianity.

As he has several times in the past year, Al-Bashir on Jan. 3 once again warned that Sudan’s constitution will be more firmly entrenched in sharia.

“We are an Islamic nation with sharia as the basis of our constitution,” he told crowds in Kosti, south of Khartoum. “We will base our constitution on Islamic laws.”

His government subsequently issued the decree ordering church leaders to provide names and contact information of church leaders in Sudan, sources said. Christian leaders said the government is retaliating for churches’ perceived pro-West position.

Muslim scholars have urged heavy-handed measures against Christians to Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Hostilities

Christians in (north) Sudan celebrated last Christmas amid several threats from officials in Khartoum, and some followers of Christ were arrested for their faith, sources said.

Yasir Musa of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) was arrested along with two other church members by national security agents in Khartoum on Dec. 23; they were detained because they were Christians and therefore suspected supporters of southern military forces. Released shortly afterward, they said authorities threatened to arrest them again if they did not comply with orders not to carry out Christian activities in the Islamic nation.

SCOC leaders said they have complained to the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments and were told that the three were arrested for security reasons.

In another case, sources said that Islamic militias loyal to the government in civilian uniform abducted a church leader and two church members as they were returning from a worship service and demanded $1,000 in ransom. They were released after two days, according to Christian sources in Khartoum.

Christians in Khartoum increasingly fear arrests by militias loyal to the Islamic government, the sources said.

Security agencies in Khartoum have also ordered local Christians not to organize Bible exhibitions, as some churches have done annually, the sources said.

The pressures on Christians come as war in Sudan’s South Kordofan state has led leaders there and in North Kordofan to incite hatred against Christians, with officials in both states calling for holy war against the predominantly Christian Nuba people.

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An advocacy organization for persecuted Christians has asked the 2012 presidential candidates to sign a pledge stating they would make religious freedom a priority in the United States and overseas if they win the White House.

Open Doors USA joined with religious freedom activist Tom Farr of Georgetown University to draft the pledge, which was unveiled Monday (Nov. 28). As of Wednesday, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., was the sole signatory among the candidates.

“The right of religious freedom must be applied equally to all religious communities in America, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others,” reads the pledge.

“At the same time, religious freedom does not mandate belief, but protects the right not to believe.”

The pledge, endorsed by prominent conservative organizations and individuals, defends the right to use religious arguments when debating laws about abortion and traditional marriage. It also supports “religiously motivated” charitable work.

“Tens of millions of human beings are subject to violent persecution because of their beliefs or those of their tormentors,” Farr said in a statement. “Whoever wins the presidency in 2012 should make religious freedom, at home and abroad, a high priority.”

The pledge calls for the candidate, should he or she become president, to nominate federal judges who support religious liberty. It also asks candidates to make religious freedom promotion a foreign policy priority and urges the appointment of a religious freedom ambassador “who is a person of stature, experienced in matters of religious freedom and diplomacy.”

The Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, a former New York minister, became ambassador last spring. When she was nominated, Farr told Religion News Service he was troubled that the post would not be filled with “an expert in international religious freedom with experience in foreign affairs.”

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Three countries, namely China, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam slammed recently a U.S. government religious freedom report which included two of them, China and Saudi Arabia, among eight Countries Of Particular Concern regarding religious freedom.

Vietnam was not included among the eight cited in the U.S. State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report, but was nonetheless mentioned for its treatment of Catholics in detention, including an ailing Catholic priest.

Religious groups backed by China’s government said the report was simply an attempt to smear the country’s image, and denied all of the report’s findings.

“The U.S. report … attempted to smear the image ofChina. The Chinese government has…protected the legal rights and interests of religious people,” a statement from five government-controlled religious associations said, according to the AFP.

“We feel greatly disturbed as the US has tried to interfere in China’s domestic affairs by targeting religion and create chaos among religious people in a bid to harm social harmony,” the AFP reported.

‘World police’

Legal activists and religious scholars in Saudi Arabia also censured the report, and said the US should stop acting as ‘world police’ by meddling in other countries’ internal affairs.

Dr. Muflah Al Qah’tani, chairman, National Society for Human Rights, KSA told Gulf News, “There is a need for those who prepare the report to be objective because there is much focus on individual cases, which are generalized in case of the country. The report ignores reference to any positive or reformatory steps taking place in the KSA.”

Biased, erroneous

Vietnam also rejected the report, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi told the government-controlled newspaper, Nhan Dan, that the report had “biased assessments” and “erroneous” information, according to World Community.

Nghi claimed that Vietnam’s constitution protects religious freedom and claimed that the nation’s practice of these rights has gained international recognition.

Especially troubling records

The U.S. State Department International Religious Freedom report covers the second half of 2010, and said that China and Saudi Arabia have especially troubling religious freedom violation records, while Vietnam has a “mixed record.”

The report cited methods of active repression in these and other countries, including the use of torture and violence against religious groups, laws on blasphemy and apostasy, restrictions on religious expression and anti-Semitism.

In China, some 500 Protestants were imprisoned in the past year, according to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

China was also cited for imprisoning dozens of Catholic priests who did not register with the government, and for destroying places where Christians meet—all of which China denies.

Perhaps the highest incidence of persecution of Christians in China which has gained publicity internationally is that of Shouwang Church in Beijing, which has not been allowed to meet since Easter. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/06/more-members-of-shouwang-arrested-in-china-on-eighth-week-showdown-16180/).

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has been cited for disallowing the public practice of any faith except Islam. News reports have cited imprisonment of Christians, including two Pentecostal Indian nationals who were jailed in Saudi Arabia for six months on trumped up, faith-related charges. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/07/2-christians-released-from-saudi-jail-after-six-months-imprisonment-16808/).

Vietnam

In the case of Vietnam, the freedom report cited issues of religious harassment in provinces and villages, including the treatment of detainees arrested for protesting the closure of the Con Dau Parish Catholic cemetery, and the re-imprisonment of Catholic activist, Father Nguyen Van Ly who is frail after enduring a number of strokes while in detention.

Media reports often cite harassment, repression, and pressure on Christians and other people of different faiths to coerce them to renounce their religious beliefs.

Also mentioned in the report as Countries Of Particular Concern are Myanmar, Eritrea, North Korea, Sudan, Iran and Uzbekistan.

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Christian leaders and heads of other faith groups gathered recently in Washington D.C. to support a bill that will enhance U.S.foreign policy in support of global religious freedom.

The interfaith leaders attended a one-day conference, Stop Religious Persecution Now, at The Washington Times. Addressing the group was Suzan Johnson-Cook, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for religious freedom.

“Everyone should have the right to believe or not believe,” Cook told the participants, adding, “That is their God-given right,” according to The Washington Times.

Included among the participants were Moslems, Sikhs, Hindus and other religious leaders, lawmakers, government officials, and citizen advocate groups for global religious freedom.

The conference was also designed to rally support for HR 1856, and to form a faith coalition to draw the attention of Congress, media and social networks towards issues of religious persecution.

The bill, authored by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Virginia), will enhance the role of the State Department in advocating global religious freedom.

Also present at the conference was Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors. In his website he said of the event, “[The conference] not only focuses on Christians who face persecution, but people of all faiths who are persecuted for their beliefs. Nearly every global faith is represented at this conference.”

Moeller, in the Open Doors website described HR 1856 as “one of the most important initiatives to promote worldwide religious freedom.” First, because it reauthorizes the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which monitors religious freedom and makes independent policy recommendations to the President, for seven more years.

Second, it addresses weaknesses in the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act including ensuring that the IRF Ambassador reports directly to the Secretary of State.

Moeller said in the website, “All of these changes are critical to improving the way the US government promotes international religious freedom and helps us achieve our goal of serving persecuted Christians.”

Generally, it was felt that while persecution is not a major problem in the U.S., there is the issue of discrimination.

“The U.S. is surely one of the freest of countries,” Ramesh Rao of the Hindu America Foundation said, “but even we have discrimination problems,” citing problems the group has encountered in seeking permission to build temples in the US, The Washington Times said.

Another speaker at the conference, Hansdeep Singh of the United Sikhs, said that in airports across the country he is often patted down like a “caged animal” at airports before even going through the metal detector because of his turban. “What did I do wrong?” The Washington Times reported.

“The problem is that no faith community is safe,” Tina Ramirez, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s director of government relations, said. “You might be the persecutor in one but the persecuted in another. So, unfortunately, religious persecution knows no bounds,” The Washington Times said.

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The Obama administration’s U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom said recently that she plans to apply a more hands-on, faith-based approach in dealing with global faith issues.

Rev. Suzan Johnson-Cook told Michel Martin on NPR’s radio program Faith Matters that she hopes to put a face on religious freedom and to perform her duties more strategically.

The recently sworn in ambassador-at-large told Martin, “[W]hat we’re trying to do is have a faith approach to some very real issues that are global. And I think people have not had a hands-on, frontline experience before. And so what they will see now is a face of religious freedom…a woman who’s…[m]oving forward strategically,” NPR reported.

In her new position, Cook will be monitoring religious freedom issues globally and will report directly to President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The latter has said of Cook, “To many, she is more than a minister, more than a spiritual leader, although she is certainly that. She is a passionate advocate for the God-given rights of people everywhere, no matter which god they believe gave them those rights in the first place,” Beliefnet said.

Clinton, during Cook’s swearing-in ceremony, said in her speech which was reprinted in the U.S. Department of State website that she will be working “in very close partnership” with Cook to uphold religious freedom, citing issues of violent extremism geared to exploiting sectarian tensions, abusive authoritarian regimes and threats to religious freedom whether through “quiet intolerance” or “violent attacks.”

When questioned by NPR about what Cook can do regarding religious freedom issues in countries with ties to the U.S., such as Saudi Arabia and the People’s Republic of China, Cook said, “I’m the poster child of religious freedom,” and added that she plans to “elevate” these issues with U.S. allies, NPR said.

Cook told NPR, “[Y]ou work with the allies that we have as partners and then you begin with diplomacy [with countries that are not allies] where there are pragmatic openings, begin to sit down and strategically plan to see if there could be partnerships where there have not been in the past.”

For 21 years, Cook was a chaplain with the New York City Police Department, which has a longstanding reputation for being at odds particularly with minorities including African-Americans and Latinos.

When asked how she mediated the role as chaplain of the NYPD and a voice for a beleaguered minority of which she is part, Cook told NPR that she saw herself as representative of her “culture and their concerns.”

Cook told NPR, “You need people from all sides of the world. You need some who are outside, who are the activists. You need some who are inside. When you have a department that’s 50,000 people strong, you’re going to also have minorities within the department…So I think you look at the opportunities that have been open and where you have been placed by God and by the Almighty.”

Cook, who in 1996 founded Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, told NPR that she measures  measures success by knowing that she has done her best with each day, enabling her to sleep peacefully at night.

She also noted to NPR that success is measured in due time by how one is remembered in history. But for herself, “[E]ach day I awake and I ask God to use me for that day in the best way that God [wants] and that I might make a difference for the people whose lives I touch and who touch mine.”

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The federal immigration board reopened recently an immigration case regarding a Christian author from Kenya who has lived in the U.S. for at least eleven years and has filed for asylum.

Hussein Wario, author of Cracks in the Crescent, expressed relief at the decision of the immigration board and said it is the first good news he has had about the issue of his appeal for asylum in nine years, Christianity Today said.

The decision noted that Wario’s motion was not opposed by the Department of Homeland Security, and remanded the case to the immigration judge “to provide the respondent a further opportunity to establish his eligibility for relief from removal,” Christianity Today reported.

The motion also indicated new evidence that conditions in Kenya have changed. The judge in the initial ruling decided that Wario could safely return to Kenya provided he stays away from his hometown, the AP said.

In his first appeal, Wario noted that Christian converts from Islam face severe persecution in Kenya and he cited the case of at least one Christian convert who was killed, Christianity Today said.

However, the judge based his ruling on reports from the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, which referred to government-controlled media reports in Kenya, according to Christianity Today.

Wario has maintained contact with other former Muslims in Kenya who have converted to Christianity. He said that these Christians are regularly receiving death threats, Christianity Today said.

He noted that while Kenyan media disregards religious stories such as these, the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2010 says otherwise, Christianity Today reported.

Wario also cited reports from local Christian organizations, especially of Christians of Somali ethnic origin, who along with their families are victims of threats, violence and death at the hands of Muslim religious leaders, Christianity Today said.

Because of this, many Christian converts must go into hiding. A Kenyan reporter said that media policies are inhibitive of reports on religion, and noted that the widely – circulated Daily Nation has an Ismaili Muslim organization as its principle shareholder, according to Christianity Today.

Michigan college graduate

Wario graduated from Hope College in western Michigan in 2000. He is currently living in Chicago and is married to a U.S. citizen. He applied for asylum in August 2002 while he was still living in the U.S. legally, according to Christianity Today.

Wario expressed concern about his personal safety if he is sent back to Kenya because his book, Cracks in the Crescent, details his conversion from Islam to Christianity, according to the AP.

The Board of Immigration Appeals said that Wario may be eligible to remain in the U.S., according to the AP.

Wario’s case is illustrative of the fact that many people are leaving Islam for Christianity, especially if they come from Muslim-majority nations, according to Christianity Today.

Some estimate that six million Muslims in Africa convert to the Christian faith every year, Christianity Today said.

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For the first time, a government agency in the U.S. has added Egypt to its list of top 14 worst violators of religious freedom in the world.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom placed Egypt on its top 14 list, taking into account the patently worsening situation of Coptic Christians after the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak, the AP reported.

However, the report notes that the attacks against the Copts began while Mubarak was still in power and heightened in 2008 up to New Year’s Day of 2011 with the bombing of a church in Alexandria which the report said was “the worst sectarian strike against Egypt’s Christians in a decade.”

A PDF file of the report also says, “For years, President Hosni Mubarak‘s government tolerated widespread discrimination against religious minorities, from Copts to Baha‘is and dissident Muslims, while allowing state-controlled media and state funded mosques to deliver incendiary messages against them.”

The report adds that anti-Christian violations continue after Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, 2011. The PDF file says, “Since February 11, military and security forces reportedly have used excessive force and live ammunition in targeting Christian places of worship and Christian demonstrators.”

The report adds that the new government falls short in other areas saying, “Implementation of previous court rulings – related to granting official identity documents to Baha‘is and changing religious affiliation on identity documents for Christian converts – continues to lag. In addition, the government has not responded adequately to combat widespread and virulent anti-Semitism in the government-controlled media.”

Another country on the top 14 list of worst violators of religious freedom is China. In his opening remarks, USCIRF chairman Leonard Leo added that China has been trying to hack the commission’s files, the AP said.

Other countries on the top 14 list are Burma, Vietnam, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan and Uzbekistan, the AP reported.

Just below the top 14 is a list of countries that are on its 2011 Watch List, meaning, Leo said, countries where “impunity has become a matter of escalating alarm,” according to its website.

The Watch List countries include Venezuela, Turkey, Tajikistan, Somalia, Russia, Laos, Indonesia, India, Cuba, Belarus and Afghanistan. Leo said in the website, “Watch List countries require close monitoring due to the nature and extent of religious freedom violations engaged in or tolerated by their governments.”

Leo said in the website, “This year’s Annual Report spotlights the problem and advances concrete solutions that will improve religious freedom while weaving it more tightly into the fabric of national security and U.S. foreign policy.”

Less aid to Egypt

One of the recommendations of the report is that the U.S. set aside part of the aid budget to Egypt’s military and instead funnel it to “enhance physical protection for Copts and other religious minorities,” the AP reported.

The USCIRF was established by congress in 1998 and works as an independent, bipartisan commission. Its members are appointed by the president and the political party leaders from both houses of congress, the website said.

The USCIRF is tasked to review incidents of violations of religious freedom internationally and then to make policy recommendations to the president, the State Department and congress, the website said.

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President Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador of religious freedom compared herself recently at a Religious Liberty Dinner to Margaret Thatcher, even as she dwelled on faith issues overseas.

Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, twice nominated by Obama for the post of ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, told some 200 lawmakers, ambassadors and church leaders at the ninth annual religious dinner that she is not fazed at having to be re-nominated, Religion News Service said.

Instead, she compared herself to the former British prime minister saying, “They called Margaret Thatcher the Iron Lady. Change the name. It’s mine now,” according to RNS.

Last June Obama nominated Cook, RNS said, but the nomination was delayed by the Senate amid criticisms that she lacked enough qualifications for the job. The nomination expired last December.

Cook was re-nominated in February after critics faulted Obama for not giving due attention to the issue of religious freedom, RNS said. She is awaiting senate approval of her appointment.

On March 7 a letter was sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticizing U.S. inaction in assigning an international religious freedom ambassador, Media Newswire said.

The letter was signed by 34 scholars, religious leaders, international relations and human rights experts, Media Newswire said. It stated that the Middle East unrest makes action imperative, and failure to appoint a religious ambassador at this time sends the message to extremists in oppressive governments and struggling democracies that religious freedom is a low priority in the U.S.

The letter also lamented the low turnout at Cook’s first confirmation hearing last year, Media Newswire said. It called on Senators to be serious in attending the next hearing “to let the nominee and the administration know that IRF should be a high priority for the United States.”

The signatories did not endorse Cook, but did lament the poor attention that is being paid to the issue of religious freedom as shown by failure to produce an ambassador-at-large up until now, Media Newswire reported.

Of the delay in her appointment Cook said in her address, “This will go down in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest nomination. But we thank God to just be in the number,” RNS reported.

Under the administration of President Bill Clinton, Cook served as an advisor of domestic policy. She also pastored two New York City churches, one of which she founded in 1996. She retired in 2009, RNS said.

Despicable act

At the dinner, which was sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Cook mentioned the recent “despicable act” of burning a Quran by a Florida cult triggering violent demonstrations in Afghanistan, RNS said.

Cook also criticized some governments that claim to allow religious freedom in their countries, but do not enforce it. She said, “Laws are too often broken by their own governments, and their people suffer,” RNS reported.

Citing the rash of unrest in the Middle East, Cook said these have produced “challenges and opportunities” that require strategic
action for the wellbeing of minority Christians, The Christian Post said.

Cook told the participants, “The frontline demands strategic action, not emotional or reactionary tactics, but strategic, prayerful action. Either we deal with it now or fundamentalist extremists can fill the power vacuums where regions have lacked democratic institutions,” RNS reported.

Shahbaz Bhatti

Cook also paid tribute to Shahbaz Bhatti, the first and only Christian in Pakistan’s government, who was assassinated for fighting for the amendment of that country’s loathsome blasphemy law.

Noting that Bhatti was never swayed by threats and danger in his advocacy for religious freedom for minorities in his country, Cook said, “As Americans, without any apologies whatsoever, we must repeat the message [religious freedom] over and over and over again to the world … [and] hold up international documents that establish this right,” The Christian Post reported.

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A U.S. commission charged with overseeing religious freedom has appealed to President Barack Obama to intercede on behalf of a Christian pastor who is facing a death sentence in Iran.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom asked Obama to seek the release of Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor in Northern Iran, who was verbally told he would be executed for apostasy. Present Truth Ministries, which helps persecuted Christians, said it is possible Nadarkhani has not yet gotten a written verdict in order to further coerce him to renounce Jesus Christ, the Baptist Press reported.

Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 because he challenged Muslim authority over religious instruction in the school that his children attend, a USCIRF report stated. The pastor noted that under Iran’s constitution, parents are allowed to raise and train their children as Christians. Because of this his wife, Fatemeh Passandideh was also charged and imprisoned for four months, according to BP.

A letter that was written by Nadarkhani last June from Lakan Prison in Rasht was posted recently at Christian Persecution. In the letter, which was translated into English, the pastor thanked church members for their loyalty and said, “blessed is the one who has faith, for what has been said to him by God, will be carried out. As we believe, heaven and earth will fade, but his word will still remain.”

Nadarkhani said that for the true believer, “it pleases him to participate in Christ’s suffering,” and referred to the beatitude that says, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets, which were before you,” in his letter posted at Christian Persecution.

The pastor also quoted the gospel of Paul and said, “In every temptation, God himself will make a way for us to tolerate it.” He added, “We conclude that troubles are difficult, but usually good and useful to build us.” He noted that Jesus said, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels,” according to his letter at Christian Persecution.

To read Nadarkhani’s letter, go to http://www.christianpersecution.info/index.php?view=9710.

USCIRF chair Leonard Leo, in a written statement said, “This case is further evidence that there is no transparency or justice in Iran’s so-called legal system for religious minorities. The Obama Administration must continue to speak out, as Secretary of State Clinton did in August, for Iran’s religious minorities. International pressure impacts Iran, and the regime has shown leniency in some cases where there is international scrutiny,” the BP reported.

Leo stressed the importance for quick action from the government and the international community on behalf of Nadarkhani. According to BP, Iran ranks among eight “countries of particular concern,” as among the world’s leading violators of religious human rights by the U.S. State Department. A USCIRF report said in the last year, religious liberty has deteriorated further.

The USCIRF report noted, “[P]hysical attacks, harassment, detention, arrests, and imprisonment [have] intensified. Even the recognized non-Muslim religious minorities — Jews, Armenian and Assyrian Christians, and Zoroastrians — protected under Iran’s constitution faced increasing discrimination and repression,” according to BP.

Leo said the increased arrest and harassment of people of minority faiths, along with provocative statements by President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and other leaders, has been unprecedented since the start of Iran’s revolution. In particular, Ahmadinejad has denied the holocaust and threatened to destroy Israel, the BP said.

On Sept. 29, Obama issued sanctions against eight senior officials in Iran for “serious human rights abuses” that were committed before or during the country’s presidential election in 2009. The eight officials will be facing visa and economic penalties. These were the first sanctions under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, which was passed in July, the BP reported.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said recently that Egypt’s recent focus on conducting reconciliation sessions between Muslims and Christians is ineffective and promotes further assaults against Christians with impunity.

The Voice of the Copts said that in recent years the Egyptian government has tried to resolve tensions between Christians and Muslims through reconciliation sessions. However, this has taken away focus from bringing perpetrators of abuse of Christians to the courts.

In its recent yearly report on religious human rights in Egypt which the USCIRF submitted to the U.S. Department of State, they said that reconciliation sessions have “prevented the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes against Copts,” according to Voice of the Copts.

The sessions have also ruled out the option of seeking restitution from the judiciary. Because they know they will not be penalized, this has added to further assaults against Christians, Voice of the Copts said.

The USCIRF has urged the U.S. to pressure the Egyptian government to take legal action against those responsible for violence and human rights violations. They also would like to take away supervision of religious affairs from the state security services, except when cases involve violence or its advocacy, Voice of the Copts reported.

For example, they cite the case of three Muslim men who were charged with the murder last January 6 of six Christians and one Muslim security guard during Coptic Christmas eve in Naga Hammadi, southern Egypt, Voice of the Copts said.

The trial of the three Muslim men began in February in a state security court but up until now, court hearings have been delayed and postponed continually and there is no clear view that there will be an ending, and that the guilty will be brought to justice, according to Voice of the Copts.

The trial is expected to resume tomorrow at the Qena governorate. The USCIRF has asked that the trial definitely push through tomorrow, voicing concern that parliamentary elections which are slated in November may shift government’s focus away from the trial, Voice of the Copts reported.

Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair said, “The government knows well that accountability could serve as a deterrent, and would demonstrate that the government is interested in addressing the issue through application of the rule of law and not just reconciliation sessions,” according to Voice of the Copts.

He added, “Justice delayed is justice denied. Is it possible for Coptic Orthodox Christians to get justice in the Egyptian court system?” Leo noted that initially they were encouraged that Egypt would bring the case to trial quickly but eight months have passed with no convictions, and no indication that an end is near, Voice of the Copts reported.

Leo said, “this only encourages further violence and is reminiscent of so many past trials where justice was never served.” Egypt has been on USCIRF’s Watch List since 2002 because of continual and serious violations of religious freedom, Voice of the Copts said.

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